1966
Number of US troops in Vietnam approaches 400,000.
Demonstrations against the war attract tens of thousands.
1
Supreme Court requires Miranda warnings.
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is launched in China.
Subway strike brings New York City to a halt. Unions win 15% pay raise.
2
Charles Whitman climbs a tower and kills 16 at University of Texas.
Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form Black Panther Party in Oakland.
Richard Speck murders 8 student nurses in Chicago dormitory.
3
“Black Power!” slogan galvanizes struggle against racism.
Nationwide grape boycott supports farmworkers’ strike led by Cesar Chavez.
Ronald Reagan elected governor of California.
4
Warning labels required on cigarette packs.
Heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali resists draft: "I ain't got nothing against no Viet Cong; no Viet Cong ever called me n_____." Mike Tyson born.
5
Indira Gandhi elected Prime Minister of India. Barbados, Botswana, and Lesotho win independence from Britain.
Namibia initiates armed liberation struggle against apartheid South Africa. Achieves independence 34 years later.
6
First episodes of TV series "Star Trek" and "Batman."
Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” published. On a lesser note, so is Jacqueline Susann’s "Valley of the Dolls."
7
Simon & Garfunkel release "Sounds of Silence" album to deafening acclaim. John Cage deems it too noisy.
Foreign films invade the U.S. Antonioni's first English-language film "Blowup" released; still exciting to watch today, as is "The Battle of Algiers." "A Man and a Woman" pretends to be arty. Really arty was Jean-Luc Godard's "Masculin/Feminin," about "the children of Marx and Coca Cola."
8
"Dr. Zhivago" fills the screen; "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" narrows it.
Motown. Aretha. Four Tops. Temptations. Supremes ......
9
The Beatles release "Revolver." John Lennon says “we're more popular than Jesus." Last live Beatles concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
The Rolling Stones seek "Mother's Little Helper." Bob Dylan’s "Blonde on Blonde" says everybody must get stoned with sad-eyed lady till motorcycle crashes. The Doors release debut LP. Cream feels free.
10
Beach Boys emit good vibrations and pet sounds. Mamas and Papas sing "Monday" and then “Monday.” Troggs evade a "Wild Thing." Mothers of Invention ask, "Who are the Brain Police?"
Frank Robinson wins the Triple Crown and his Orioles sweep Dodgers in the World Series.
11
Ed Brooke of Massachusetts becomes first Black U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. African-American holiday Kwanzaa is first celebrated.
First practicable disposable diaper sold by Pampers. Incentivizes people to start having children again.
12
Michel Foucault publishes The Order of Things. Words like “episteme” and “discourse” become the norm at cocktail parties.
The USSR's Luna 9 becomes first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon. U.S. later repeats the feat with Surveyor 1.
13
Average new car costs $2,650. Gas averages 32 cents per gallon.
The fashion world looks to Carnaby Street in swinging London.
James Meredith shot while leading marchers across Mississippi.
14
NOW -- the National Organization for Women -- founded in Washington DC.
Premiere of Tom Stoppard's play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” The ghost of Shakespeare groans, then laughs.
15
Ken Kesey conducts public “acid test” at San Francisco’s Fillmore Theater.
Washington Redskins beat NY Giants 72-41 in a defensive battle.
World Trade Center groundbreaking in lower Manhattan.
16
1967
Monterey Pop Festival. Performers include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller Band, and Grateful Dead.
First Super Bowl – Bart Starr and Packers beat Kansas City Chiefs.
17
Israel expands its territory via the six-day Yom Kippur War.
The number of U.S. troops in Vietnam approaches 500,000.
John McCain is shot down.
18
U.S. General William Westmoreland: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
Martin Luther King Jr. denounces the Vietnam War at New York City’s Riverside Church.
19
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators storm the Pentagon. Allen Ginsberg chants to levitate Pentagon walls, some say successfully.
First successful human-to-human heart transplant performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard.
Rebellions against police brutality erupt from Newark to Detroit.
20
Loving v. Loving: The Supreme Court rules that state laws barring interracial marriage are unconstitutional.
Thurgood Marshall becomes first black Supreme Court justice.
21
The Beatles release “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” and double single of “Penny Lane” / "Strawberry Fields."
Martha and the Vandellas ask, “Jimmy Mack, when are you coming back?”
22
Otis Redding dies in plane crash after recording “Dock of the Bay.”
First issue of Rolling Stone magazine hits the newsstands.
23
Muhammad Ali stripped of heavyweight title for refusing army induction.
Military coup in Greece installs right-wing generals.
Biafra proclaims independence from Nigeria. Civil war leads to famine.
24
Evel Knievel jumps motorcycle over 16 cars but fails to jump Caesars Palace fountains in Las Vegas.
"Hair" opens off-Broadway. The “Summer of Love” transforms San Francisco.
Great year for films: “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Graduate,” “Playtime,” “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,” “Weekend,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Dirty Dozen,” “Belle de Jour,” In the Heat of the Night,” “Titicut Follies.”
25
Aretha Franklin demands respect; Janis Joplin outstrips her big brothers; Doors light a fire and warn of strange days; Jefferson Airplane sleeps on a surrealistic pillow; Smoky Robinson seconds that emotion; Cream drinks a strange brew; Rolling Stones search between the buttons; Who sees for miles; Velvet Underground waits for the man; Jimi Hendrix woos foxy lady; Van Morrison finds brown-eyed girl; Toni Braxton and Kurt Cobain born.
Country Music Hall of Fame opens in Nashville. Loretta Lynn instructs: “Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind).”
26
14th Newport Jazz Festival held in Newport, Rhode Island.
Frank Sinatra wins 5 Grammy awards.
TV show “Hogan’s Heroes” mainstreams Nazis.
27
Wilt Chamberlain and Philadelphia 76ers defeat San Francisco Warriors to win the NBA title.
Che Guerilla executed without trial in Bolivia by CIA-supported forces. Other departees this year: Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Alice B. Toklas, John Coltrane, and Spencer Tracy.
Eugene McCarthy announces run for President on peace platform.
28
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez is published in Spanish. Richard Brautigan goes “Trout Fishing in America.” Best 1967 book you never heard of: “A Grain of Wheat” by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
A first-class stamp costs a nickel.
29
1968
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated at Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he was supporting striking sanitation workers.
50,000 people turn out for “Poor Peoples March” in Washington, D.C.
30
Urban rebellions scare Congress and LBJ into enacting Civil Rights Act of 1968 which barred racial discrimination in provision of housing.
Bobby Kennedy assassinated at Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
31
Andy Warhol prematurely declared dead in emergency room after attempted assassination.
McDonalds introduces Big Mac.
Vietnamese liberation forces launch Tet Offensive, a coordinated attack on 36 South Vietnamese cities that darkened the “light at the end of the tunnel” proclaimed by U.S. leaders.
32
Lt. William Calley and fellow soldiers massacre over 400 civilians at My Lai.
Antiwar protests grow humongous.
33
Antiwar protesters observe National Turn in Your Draft Card Day by burning draft cards at campus rallies.
Students occupy Columbia University to protest its collaboration with the Pentagon.
34
LBJ announces he won’t seek another term after antiwar candidate Gene McCarthy comes within 230 votes of winning New Hampshire primary and RFK enters the presidential race.
Nixon defeats Humphrey in November presidential election. Third-party segregationist George Wallace, former Alabama governor, captures 13.5 percent of popular vote and five southern states.
35
Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia ended by Soviet intervention.
M&A deal of the year: Jackie Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis.
Students massacred in Mexico for protesting lack of democracy and wasteful Olympics.
36
Big protests meet bloody repression in Chicago as Democratic Party nominates Hubert Humphrey for president.
Black Power salute. 20 years before Colin Kaepernick is born, Olympic medal winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise black-gloved fists to protest racism as national anthem plays.
37
Intel Corporation founded. Will flood the world with non-potato chips.
Barricades fill Paris streets as millions of French workers strike in solidarity with students demanding educational and employment reforms, forcing President de Gaulle to dissolve National Assembly and hold new elections.
38
CBS debuts “60 Minutes.”
NBC’s pre-scheduled airing of “Heidi” prevents millions from seeing Oakland Raiders’ miracle comeback to win Super Bowl.
Three astronauts aboard Apollo 8 — Jim Lovell, Bill Anders, and Frank Borman — became first humans to orbit the moon.
39
Motion picture starts labeling films G, PG, R, or X.
Films probe the universe – “2001: A Space Odyssey”; fear – “Rosemary’s Baby”; driving skills – “Bullitt”; and zombies – “Night of the Living Dead.”
40
Aretha Franklin releases “Lady Soul” album.
Beatles’ “White Album.” Some say “what is this shit?” Others say “genius!”
Johnny Cash stuck in Folsom; The Band vacations at Big Pink; Marvin Gaye hears through a grapevine; Rolling Stones enjoy beggars’ banquet.
41
Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal publish “Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro- American Writing.”
Tom Wolfe’s “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” inaugurates new journalism.
42
Allen Ginsberg and the Fugs perform a mock exorcism at Sen. Joe McCarthy's grave.
Buckminster Fuller publishes Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. "We are all astronauts," says Fuller.
43
1969
British troops sent to northern Ireland to show that colonialism still packs a punch.
Manson “family” kills actress Sharon Tate and a bunch of others after listening to Beatles’ White Album.
44
The Chicago 8 – an assortment of Nixon’s designated enemies – go on trial on charges of conspiring to disrupt ’68 Democratic Convention.
Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark murdered by Chicago cops. Fred’s obit: “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.”
45
The Who’s “Tommy” brings opera to the unwashed masses.
“Midnight Cowboy” gets X rating and Oscar for best picture. “Easy Rider” is watchable only on acid. “The Wild Bunch” and “Z” are still worth watching.
Gay community beats back police assault on Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, launching rejuvenated movement for LGBTQ rights.
46
Apollo 11 and three astronauts land on moon in “giant leap for mankind.”
Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne go for a drive on Chappaquiddick Island. Mary Jo never comes back. Ted never becomes president.
47
“Woodstock” music festival. Half-a-million people get back to the garden, which Hells Angels later rip up at Altamont.
PBS founded, ushering in shows with no commercial value.
Nixon announces Vietnamization: “I’m not going to be the first American president to lose a war."
48
Huge turnouts for Moratorium to End the War demonstrations in the fall.
Vice President Spiro Agnew denounces war critics as “effete corps of impudent snobs” and “nattering nabobs of negativism.”
49
Native American protesters seize Alcatraz Island and hold it for 19 months.
Draft lottery exempts some and condemns others.
First test flight of supersonic Concorde.
50
27-year-old Colonel Qaddafi deposes King Idris and establishes Libyan Arab Republic.
The Beatles, with Billy Preston on keyboards, give their final live performance on London’s Apple building roof.
John & Yoko hold bed-in for peace from their hotel room.
51
♪♬♫ James Brown commands, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Bob Dylan surveys “Nashville Skyline.” Joni Mitchell ascends to the “Clouds.” Merle Haggard provokes with “Okie from Muskogee.” Miles Davis crosses over in “Bitches Brew.” Janis Joplin sports a “Pearl.” Johnny Cash goes trans with “A Boy Named Sue.” Sly and the Family Stone celebrate “Everyday People.” Ice Cube and Gwen Stefani are born.
Maya Angelou publishes “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
52
Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones drowns in swimming pool. Judy Garland dies from barbiturate overdose.
Miracle Mets win World Series. Few will remember that Mets team included former Yankee great Yogi Berra.
53
Soccer great Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.
Samuel Beckett wins Nobel Prize for his many great plays and novels. Jack Kerouac dies from alcohol poisoning after writing one great book.
54
Grace Slick, appearing on Dick Cavett Show, become first person to say “motherfucker” on U.S. television.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus first appears on BBC.
Robert Crumb’s Fritz the Cat revamps the meaning of literature.
55
Eastern Airlines plane hijacked to Cuba with Candid Camera’s host aboard. Not a stunt by Allen Funt.
Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint makes self-abuse literary. “Adolescence – half my waking life spent locked behind the bathroom door.”
California becomes first state to adopt a "no fault" divorce law allowing couples to divorce by mutual consent.
56
“Hee Haw” debuts on CBS.
Gatorade enters the market and becomes official sports drink of National Football League.
MC5’s John Sinclair sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving two joints to an undercover cop.
57
1970
Nixon orders invasion of Cambodia, widening the Vietnam war.
Four Kent State students protesting the invasion are killed by National Guard troops. The following week, two Jackson State students protesting racism and the war are killed by city and state police.
58
Millions march across U.S. to protest widening war and campus repression.
University campuses shut down by student strikes.
59
Big demonstrations in New Haven against trial of Black Panther leaders Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins.
Paul McCartney announces disbanding of the Beatles. Diana Ross & the Supremes perform farewell concert in Las Vegas.
60
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty takes effect.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks five passenger planes on one September day.
First Earth Day.
61
Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt. Aswan High Dam opens.
First New York City Marathon. Only 55 runners cross the finish line.
Miles Davis releases “Bitches Brew” double album, launching jazz rock.
62
The Who drummer Keith Moon fatally runs over his chauffeur with his Bentley as he tries to escape mob outside pub.
Marvin Gaye records “What’s Going On” – the epitome of woke music.
Jimi Hendrix dies of barbiturate overdose in London. Janis Joplin dies in a cheap Hollywood motel after mixing heroin and alcohol. Both were 27.
63
Dee Brown enlightens with “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.”
“Patton” glamorizes and “M*A*S*H” deglamorizes war. Or vice versa.
First airing of “Monday Night Football” with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith.
64
Wildcat postal strike spreads from New York City across the country. Nixon sends in the troops, who have no idea how to throw mail.
Chiefs win Super Bowl, Knicks win NBA Championship, Orioles win World Series, and Bruins win Stanley Cup.
North Tower of the World Trade Center tops out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world. Lasts only 31 years.
65